


Yellow Flicker Beat

by aslightstep



Series: Drabblethon: Gen edition [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Discriminatory Gender Politics, Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 06:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9534959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aslightstep/pseuds/aslightstep
Summary: This is the start of how it all ever ends/They used to shout my name, now they whisper itWhen the world finds out, the people almost seem relieved. “Yes,” they breathe, laughing under their breath. Vindicated. “He’s exactly the monster we always thought he was.”The truth about Tony comes out. It goes downhill from there.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Drabblethon series, Gen category. Song is Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde.

When the world finds out, the people almost seem relieved. “Yes,” they breathe, laughing under their breath. Vindicated. “He’s exactly the monster we always thought he was.”

Crowds rage outside of his tower day and night while he watches them from on high. He’d had a glass of whiskey in his hand, but Clint had dashed it to the floor the moment he saw it. Clint, who had always let him be, let him cope, never treated him differently even if he was _Tony Stark_. Clint who was fearless, who had then shrunk back when Tony whirled on him, the remnants of the glass in between them. Normal, adjusted _Omega_ Clint.

The Avengers are…gone now, maybe, Tony is too tired to care. (Too scared.) The big secret came out and suddenly there was a tinge of fear in Steve’s eyes, a knowing in Natasha’s glance, a shock of betrayal in the new set of Bruce’s worry lines. If Thor had been here…well, perhaps he could have kept Thor. Thor had been greatly confused by Earth’s gender dynamics when he first arrived and once they were explained, had been even more greatly discomfited.

“A warrior should be judged by his mettle,” Thor had protested. “His honor.”

“And they are,” Natasha had replied smoothly. Betas were always smooth, but Natasha was like silk. “As long as they’re in control.” 

The glass is still on the floor, the crowds are still outside, and there’s a strange beeping echoing through the floor. “J,” Tony croaks. “What is that?”

“A reminder, sir. It is time for you to take your suppressants.”

Oh, God. That had been the first thing he had ever taught JARVIS to do, over twenty years ago. Not once had it ever been needed, not after nearly a decade of ruthless conditioning by Howard and his teachers on their necessity. 

Not once, until now.

“Cancel it, J. No point now.” Tony leans into the cold glass. He can’t see the signs that people are waving from up here, but he can imagine what more than a few of them say. It’s a slogan ingrained in every child’s mind.

**TRUST NO ALPHA**

* * *

Once upon a time, Alphas had ruled the world. They were leaders, kings, emperors. Strong and quick, amassing great packs filled with loyal Betas and Omegas that bent to their will. Alphas were strong, quick, and fiercely protective.

They waged wars over great swaths of land, gobbling up whatever fell in their path and making it their own. There was no individuality. There was only Pack. You were in it or you were dead.

And in the pack, there was only Alpha.

But over time, things changed. _Rulers_ became _dictators_. _Kings_ became _tyrants_. Protection became possession. And the loyalty of those Omegas and Betas became slavery. 

Alphas were rare, even back then. The masses rose up and cast the Alphas down. A new world order arose. Betas were so much more even-keeled, after all, and omegas just as fierce and loyal without riding the razor’s edge of madness. What did Alphas provide anyone but a lifetime of unwanted devotion and terror, never-ending instability in their constant need for control?

Alphas were dangerous. Alphas were unstable. Alphas were intrinsically inferior from the moment they were born. _Trust No Alpha._ They were only good for fighting and fucking. 

No one wanted them. Parents in third-world countries drowned their Alpha children, not wanting to risk a new Pack rising up. Developed countries sent their Alphas to faraway, isolated schools with the same fear. Because no matter what Omegas and Betas told themselves, the awful truth was that an Alpha demanded Pack by sheer virtue of his or her existence. They were scared. Letting any Alpha roam free was a chance that at any moment, it could all be undone. A new Pack could be born.

They had tracked down one out on tundras of Russia just last year. Shot them all dead to a man. Tony was still surprised to this day that Howard hadn’t done the same the moment he presented. Instead, Howard had traced his mother’s lineage. Found more than a few Alphas in her line. Beat her black and blue. 

That, more than anything, proved to Tony exactly what he was worth.

* * *

“The board’s vote was unanimous, Tony,” Pepper whispers, barely audible as she chokes back her tears. She’s known what Tony was since the moment a bond almost formed between them when the dosage for his suppressants needed a re-up and his hormones had gone out of whack. Tony had torn it apart quickly and efficiently but she had still felt it. “I’m so sorry.”

His company. His legacy. Gone, just like that. Because his DNA did _this_ , instead of _that_. “It’s not your fault, Pep.” Tony hangs up the call. He’s been drunk for days. There’s a Stark-issue pistol sitting pretty on the coffee table, calling his name. “Any word from the team, J?”

 _“No, sir.”_ And why would there be? He was an Alpha in their midst. Hadn’t SHIELD warned them how out of control Tony could be? He could’ve formed Pack at any moment if he’d gone off the suppressants. Could’ve bent them to his will, unmade and remade them to his liking. 

But he didn’t. Doesn’t that - doesn’t that count? He didn’t. He never would have. He didn’t want a pack. He wanted a family.

And he’d had it, for one brief shining moment. One rogue hacker with an agenda going through his medical records and in an instant it was all gone. “Try their cells, every four hours, alternating, J.” He’s past caring about appearing clingy or pushy. He just wants to talk to them.

“Is there a message you would like to leave?”

Tony looks down at the crowd outside. Hears the round table going on the news. Rhodey’s phone call from yesterday evening echoing in his head. “Tell them I’m sorry. Tell them there’s not much time.”

He picks the gun up. Puts it down. He doesn’t want to die like this. Like an Alpha. He wants to be Tony Stark.

* * *

_“Tony, they’re coming for you.”  
_

_“They’re not getting their hands on the suit.”  
_

_“They’re coming for **you**. You’re an unbonded Alpha with more power than most of the free world. They won’t allow you to…”  
_

_“Live?”  
_

_“Tones. I’m coming, okay? Get your suit ready, we’ll make a run for Finland. Their Alpha laws aren’t so insane.”  
_

_“I’m not making you a fugitive, Rhodey.”  
_

_“Tony-”  
_

_“I love you, okay? You saved my life. Think of this as me returning the favor.”_

* * *

_“Sir. They are shutting down power to the building.”_

“Initiate Project Nuketown, J,” Tony says. The lights go out, but Tony’s not an idiot. His penthouse and lab have their own generator. “JARVIS?”

 _“Sir?”_ JARVIS sounds almost scared now, as the sound of boots echo in their stairwell from a long ways away.

“Look for me. This isn’t the end, alright? I’m not going out like this - okay, I totally am, but it’s like the song says-”

There are soldiers in the living room. Tony grins at them, full-grown Alpha snarl, teeth bared, relishing in the collective flinch.

“’Iron Man lives again.’”

* * *

When they lead him out in a hood (to decrease sensory overload) and handcuffs that would probably keep Steve Rogers in check (never underestimate an Alpha’s strength) the crowd that has been protesting at the base of the tower goes strangely quiet. He can hear their feet move as they shuffle aside, letting them pass. High up above in the labs, a special corrosive liquid developed by him is eating away at the suits while the bots lock themselves away in a private room and JARVIS retreats deep into the Internet to hide and bide.

Tony Stark is disappearing before their eyes. Iron Man is no more.

They take him to a prison called 42. A sneering government agent tells Tony that he can go free if he bonds, which Tony refuses. “I’ll rip out the gland if you try to force it,” he tells them. “Don’t think that I can’t.” Alphas are devoted to the Omegas they bond with, on occasion to the point of obsession. They can’t think of anything but providing and protecting for their Omega. Nowadays, that kind of mental imbalance is encouraged - to keep the Alphas in line and under control. 

Tony imagines that it used to be a very profound thing, the Bond. An Alpha’s body yearns for one their whole life. But a smart Alpha is careful to let that be the only thing that does. _Keep your heart and your mind safe. They are the only things you will own._

Tony is stuck in a dark cell, alone, always cold. He dreams about life before constantly. Even with years of suppressants destroying his body and his mind always screaming as its most base part was ruthlessly shut down, Tony had been so happy. He’d had Pepper, and Rhodey. He’d had the Avengers. No one knew his secret; it had died with those men in the cave and Obie. He was going to live an incomplete life, but that had just made what he did have all the more sweet.

He was warm, and respected, and maybe even loved. They’d make Pack, and gender dynamics could go fuck themselves. It had been all their own.

Now it’s all gone. 

* * *

They, of course, want him to make weapons.

“You’re smart. Amazingly smart, for an Alpha. It’d be a shame to let that go to waste.”

And Tony agrees.

They lead him into a room with all sorts of metal and chemicals and tools and he smiles. The guards are watching him at all times. But they’re watching out for an Alpha. That is their mistake.

It was never being an Alpha that saved him. It was being _Tony Stark_. And they can take away his money, and his toys, his friends and his team, but at the end of the day, he is what he made himself, not what his biology dictated. He is Iron Man.

It doesn’t take three months this time.

* * *

Three months later, Bruce Banner is awakened by a beeping sound. He sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. They had been pulling so many long nights lately. The world insisted that Tony Stark had died in the Prison 42 explosion, but the Avengers didn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe it. 

“JARVIS? What is it?” 

The Avengers had had to work for weeks to get JARVIS to even talk to them, let alone let them even vaguely in on the plan Tony had concocted for this exact situation years ago.

“ _I have located him_ ,” the AI answers, clearly overjoyed. The audio seems to cut out and quietly, Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ begins to play. “ _It is on a loop. Repeating for over three weeks_.”

Bruce laughs disbelievingly. “Oh, Tony,” he whispers, a fierce wave of longing rising up in him. He’d missed his friend. “Are you able to contact him?”

“ _Yes, I am. Would you like to pass on a message?_ ”

“Tell him his apology is accepted. And we’ll give our own in person.” He stands, yanking the cricks out of his back, and heads for the elevator. “And tell the team to Assemble. Our Alpha needs us.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me at my tumblaaa [here](http://aslightstep.tumblr.com)


End file.
